Christmas budgies!
By balcony
16 comments
Christmas budgies!
To make a rare change this blog will be about the 2 budgies our daughter gave her mum for a twin Christmas/retiring present!
Here they are still at our daughter’s house:
Here is a photo of the green budgie now at our flat:
Here is a photo of the yellow budgie now at our flat, too:
Both my wife & I like budgies & we had 3 in Spain. We like to let them spend as much time out of their cage as we can.
Not easy when we have our daughter’s dog staying with us! She very good at catching birds in their garden, something that upsets our daughter! More especially so when she brings them into the house as if to “show off her trophies”!
Leaving them to fly “wild” does have its drawbacks as well! Especially for my poor Dragon Tree.
Keep an eye on the Dragon Tree & watch how it changes over the coming weeks!:
Now there is nothing whatsoever left of the tip! Shame because I’d hoped to try & get it to root later in the spring! I was going to cut off the growing tip & then reduce the stem by about 3/4.
Now they have made a good start on the second highest branch!:
I feel a bit annoyed & sad that they should have destroyed the tip but what could I do other than shut them in their cage? My wife suggested I move it to another room but I’m reluctant to take away what has become their favourite perch!
To cover the tree with some net curtaining would be at the same time unsightly & dangerous for the birds as their claws would undoubtedly get caught up in the material leading them to panic & probable harm trying to get free.
I think the only solution is to do as my wife has suggested & move the tree into one of the bedrooms. As I would rather see them enjoying their freedom to come & go as they please & develop their characters as the ones we had in Spain did. We still remember them with great fondness even more than 20 years later!
My wife asked our granddaughter if she would like to name them so she called the green one ‘Bobby’, (She even knew how to spell it correctly as well! She is only 6 years old), the other she called ‘Rubi’ (Spanish for blonde! But can be used indistinctly as a male or female name). As we are not altogether sure of what sex it is yet it turned out to be a good choice of name! I think it is almost certainly a female as she does the actions of regurgitating & feeding Bobby. I far as I’ve been able to ascertain that is all they are – actions, I’ve not been able to see properly if she does in fact regurgitate anything.
As we had budgies at home for many years when I was a boy I know that the males have a blue nose & the females a brown nose. But these two are not clear cut at present & we will have to wait till they are sexually mature before we can be certain.
If they turn out to be one of each sex they are unlikely to have offspring unless we provide them with a nest box, something we have no intention of doing for the foreseeable future. Though we have considered the possibility of allowing them to have young in a year or two’s time.
9 Feb, 2014
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Comments
Such lovely budgies.
As a budgie owner myself I checked the toxic & Non-toxic list of plants.
Dragon Tree is listed as non-toxic to budgies, so safe for them to chew on.
Your dragon tree is looking a little sorry for itself. LOL
Budgies enjoy destroying things.
Mine have destroyed safe plants, even though they have destructible toys.
Currently my budgies are sitting together nattering away. So cute.
10 Feb, 2014
lovely budgies :-)
10 Feb, 2014
Oh dear, poor tree - you must love budgies even more than your plants! Its so nice to see them being allowed to fly round the room though.
10 Feb, 2014
they look better out of a cage than in it. not over keen on pets being kept in cages or wild animals being kept as pets.
having said that they do look sweet
10 Feb, 2014
Thank you all for your kind comments! :-))
Thank you especially, TT, for the suggestions about the pacifier & where to get them. The place you mention was probably the place they were bought. As they are together the whole time I wouldn't have thought they would be bored. We haven't bought them any toys except a swing. They spend the night huddled together on it!
Thanks for adding the blog to Goypedia!
Alextb we were a little worried at first but seeing as they suffered no ill effects after the first time we have no longer been worried.
They don't touch any other plant we have in our living room. I have a big Spider plant on the dining table as well as a Flowering Christmas Cactus & an Amaryllis about to open the first flowers of 2014! I also have a green Tradescantia.
Glad you like them, Marybells! :-))
I wouldn't say, Steragram, that I like budgies more than my plants I'd say they're two different feeling that can live together. The budgies bring "active" life & sound to our flat whereas the plants provide a passive form of tranquillity & joy at their lovely colours & forms!
Maisiesdad, I couldn't agree more! Both my wife & I like to see the animals as free as possible, we don't like to see them cooped up either.
10 Feb, 2014
Lovely budgies, I have a budgie called sky, when hes out of his cage he loves to play on the table with all his toys which I put on there, he loves knocking them on the floor.... when hes had enough he goes back in his cage... :))
11 Feb, 2014
Holly ... your budgie is lovely ...
sounds like Sky really enjoys all those toys.
My budgie likes to throw toys out of his 'extension' bath onto the cage floor, each time with a loud 'bang' ! Lol.
Balcony ... if you need any more info. on the pacifier or other budgie toys, I'd be happy to email.
A budgie needs to use its beak a lot .. all day ..
and if you don't provide items for them to play with and for chewing/pecking, they'll look around for plants and wallpaper to eat instead .. or, worst case, they peck out their own feathers in boredom ...
I hope you'll show us more photos as the budgies grow.
11 Feb, 2014
Such pretty Budges, so pleased to see and hear they have lots of freedom, I always feel so sorry to see them cooped up in a cage all day;0)
11 Feb, 2014
Thanks, TT. :-)) I'll remember that!
PP, we like to have them flying free & like you we don't like to see them cooped up either.
12 Feb, 2014
Thanks Tt, I wonder why budgies like to throw and knock there toys about in water and make them fall. Sky to puts his toys in his drinking water, makes quite a sport of it...
13 Feb, 2014
Carole, my sky loves being in and out of his cage, heloves playing with his toys in and out,, I think the thing is to keep them occupied with lots of toys... :))
13 Feb, 2014
Hi Holly ...
You are absolutely right ... the main thing is to keep budgies happy and occupied... which means mostly either eating, drinking, chatting to the TV or radio, or playing with toys !
My Crocus budgie's 'play bath' is without water because he spends so long in there, and I wouldn't want his feet to get too damp, especially towards evening.
He has another bath for bathing which is fixed on occasionally, but always early in the day.
But I think what fascinates the budgies is the reflections, whether in the bath mirror, or in water.
Haven't seen a pic. of your Sky for quite a while .. do you have any new photos for a blog ?
Thanks, Balcony, for this blog ... hoping for more of your budgie pics soon. Added blog to my favourites :o)
13 Feb, 2014
My Budgies spend all day with the cage doors open.
They can come and go as they please.
13 Feb, 2014
Havnt taken any for a while TT.... its a job to catch him still lol... will try and get some.... :)))
15 Feb, 2014
I've had to give in & move the Dragon Tree to the other bedroom as they had almost chewed the top of the 2nd branch. :-((
15 Feb, 2014
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Your budgies are lovely !
My budgie, Crocus, has a toy called a
'Pacifier for small birds' (made by a company called Jouets)
I call it his 'pastry brush' toy because it has lots of brush-like strands.
If you give the budgies one or two of these, hanging around the room, they might chew on those instead of chewing your Dragon Tree or other plants.
In fact, the more budgie toys you hang around the room (mirrors, bells, etc) the less likely the birds are to be bored and to chew leaves etc.
The Pacifiers are probably available at Huntingdon Garden and Leisure store near you.
Looking forward to lots more of your budgie photos !
I've added this blog to GoYpedia !
Also ... you could provide a bare curvy branch, similar to that of the Dragon Tree, which they might enjoy for perching. .... you could fix a 'pastry brush' and other toys to that, to substitute for the Dragon Tree.
10 Feb, 2014